t was already bright even at 5am since the sun rises directly at our camp site. We prepared our breakfast early so we could explore the ridge more. From our campsite, you could still go further up the ridge where there are more rocks on its gradual mountain slope. It was nice, as there are a number of different floras among the rocks of the ridge. The other camp (AMCI maybe) had these portable speakers, playing some "Enigma" music which makes the mood of the place more perfect. It could have been a better campsite. It was there where the "Chicharon Boys" set their camp. We didn't bother to go up the peak anymore since the same 360 degrees view can be seen from where we are.
As soon as everyone had packed up, they went back down to the Papaya River. Sir James, Marilen and Arin went down first. Hazel who had a bit of ankle injury was behind us. I was startled when she would occasionally yell as I thought she had a minor slip. Eds has gone forward while I stay little behind until I find Ruwen who could see Hazel as they went down the slopes. As soon as she's ok I tried speeding down. After yesterday's long strides up, the pressure was more on the knees and the butt this time as we go down. It was much faster but the weight of the bag could also send you tumbling down. About half of the trail down, I didn't want to stop even for a moment because my legs were shaking uncontrollably. "Tumigil ka sa Panginginig (Stop shaking)" I told myself as I continuously went down the trail.
More River Fun
Here is my major boo-boo. In about less than an hour I already caught up with Sir Arin, Sir James, Marilen and Joseph. I guess I was just too pre-occupied that I didn't realize we were already at the Papaya River. I was also looking for Eds who doesn't seem to be there and continued on. I continued on the trail and shortly found Eds sitting on the rock. He wasn't sure if he had already passed by the Papaya River, sure-me told him that I think we still haven't passed by it so we took our time there and rested. Ate some dried mangoes then we moved on. Then on a trail it occurred to me that I was wrong, we passed by a familiar trail which I remembered was even before the Papaya river. Eds asked the other climbers for the right direction. And I was right that I was wrong and that we should go back. We hurried back to where we came from and even passed by Jaja who also seemed to also have been lost. Jeesh! I was too occupied in getting to the Papaya River so I could have more time to bask in its cool waters and it's ironic that we lost an hour just by getting lost. When we got back everyone was already there, asking where we have gone.
"Hey, you're back!" Marilen greeted as we headed for some water Fun at Papaya River while they were just ready to leave. Everyone took their time and enjoy the waters. Daddy E. later told us while we were at the upper river pool that we should start our trek down by 1:30 pm so we would have time to clean up and catch the ferry back to Manila. I looked at my watch and it was still 11:00am. We decided to stay for another half-an-hour before we prepare our lunch. Again we had soup for lunch and some spaghetti Macaroni from Lovely's food group. We were the only group left beside the river. Ruwen along with Hazel already went first since she had an injury. The Chicharon Boys, Leonard and Jaja already left as we were about to have our Lunch.
